The Price of Oil is Falling, Right?

Don't Celebrate Too FastThe price of oil has been falling in recent days, and some people are already bringing out the party hats and daydreaming about Hummers. We think that a more sober look at the situation is needed, and thanks to the nice people at The Oil Drum Europe, we have this great graph (above).

Historical Data: Recent Crude Oil PricesIt shows at least 6 different instances during the past 5 years when the price of crude oil dropped by similar percentages to the current drop, but most importantly, it shows an overall trend of 30% yearly increases in price. Nobody can know exactly how big the current drop will be or what the future will hold, but looking at this kind of hard historical data can certainly help put it all in perspective. See also: Offshore Oil Drilling Will Still Not Lower Gasoline Prices, Hidden Oil Subsidies: We Need to END Them